AGENDA #6b

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:       Town Operation Center Special Use Permit Application – Consideration of Issues from the Owner’s Perspective and Authorization of Next Steps in the Project

 

DATE:             April 14, 2004

 

 

This report provides information from the Town as Owner/Applicant in response to comments and questions offered at the public hearing and by advisory boards regarding our application for a Special Use Permit for the Town Operations Center. 

 

The attached resolution would authorize the Manager to proceed with the development of detailed construction drawings and seek construction bids for the project.

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Town Operations Center will be the new home of the Town’s Public Works and Transportation Departments, as well as the Housing Department’s maintenance program.  Public Works and Transportation currently occupy land which is part of the Horace Williams tract and which is leased from the University of North Carolina.  The lease with the University expires on December 31, 2006.   The University has declined to extend the lease and plans to develop its property where the two departments now reside.  The Housing Department’s maintenance division occupies a converted housing unit on Craig Street.

 

Pursuant to the impending lease expiration, the Town began in 1998 to identify possible sites for a new facility and to evaluate needs in order to determine the facility’s appropriate size.  The Town identified property on Millhouse Road, north of Eubanks Road and began acquiring several parcels upon which to build.  The property acquired totals about 88 acres, of which about 54 acres are the subject of the Special Use Permit application.  An additional approximately 4 acres that lie outside the Town’s planning jurisdiction would be used for a storage and parking area.

 

The Town hired a designer, Corley Redfoot Zack, in 2002 and began a design process that included a number of opportunities for Town employees to provide input.  A Design Advisory Committee was established that included the Town Council and members of Town advisory boards, as well as neighbors of the site and local professionals in fields related to the uses of the proposed facility.

 

The project team adopted as key principles Sustainable Development, Environmental Sensitivity and Fiscal Prudence.  They have guided the design throughout the process.

 

The Council formally reviewed the project’s conceptual plan in June 2003 and approved a revised concept plan and budget in October 2003.  The approved budget is $24,391,000 for the Public Works/Housing portion and $18,535,527 for the Transportation portion, for a total of $42,926,527.

 

The Town applied for its special use permit in November 2003, and has followed the process of review by boards and public meetings.  The public hearing was held on March 15 of this year.

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

Issues from the Public Hearing

 

The information below responds, from the Town’s perspective as applicant/owner, to issues raised during the March 15 public hearing and comments from advisory boards, both before and after the hearing.

 

  1. Sound and light emanating from the facility: citizens and board members have expressed concern about the amount of light and noise that might be perceived by neighbors of the Town Operations Center.

 

Staff comment: The project will comply with the requirement of the Land Use Management Ordinance with respect to lighting and the Town’s Noise Ordinance.  We will endeavor to take care to balance the requirements of providing a well-lighted work environment and safe conditions for employees with the need to not direct light off premises.

 

  1. Visibility of operations, particularly those in the northern section of the site: citizens have expressed concern about how visible the facility will be from nearby areas, particularly that area north of the Town’s planning jurisdiction, where a storage and parking area are planned.

 

Staff comment: The project will meet or exceed the Town’s buffer requirements.  The Land Use Management Ordinance requires a 30’ wide, Type “D” buffer along Millhouse Road.  In this location, a 50’-wide, Type “D” buffer is proposed to provide more area for added landscaping between the Operations Center facility and the adjacent properties.  This will accommodate supplemental plantings in addition to the Land Use Management Ordinance requirements and will provide a better environment for the proposed landscaping to prosper, thereby providing a more effective visual barrier.  The portion of the site including the Public Works Department will have plantings that will be installed at a significantly larger size than the Town typically requires.  Specifically, large growing trees will be specified to be a minimum of 4” caliper, rather than the typical 2 – 2 ½” required and smaller growing, primarily native evergreen trees, will be specified to be 10 – 12’ in height at installation rather than the standard 5 – 6’ required.  In the northern section of this buffer near the proposed fuel tanks, construction of a berm and 8’ tall solid wall are also proposed to provide additional and immediate screening.

 

  1. Hours of operation of the facility:  a speaker asked about the hours of operation of the facility, especially about nighttime operations. 

 

Staff comment: The Public Works Department has routine operations from about 4:00 am until early evening.  Chapel Hill Transit runs between about 4:45 am until about 1 am on weekdays, and fewer hours on weekends.  In emergencies or special events, Public Works will perform round-the-clock operations for the duration of the event.  In addition, the fueling facility at Public Works operates 24 hours a day, providing fuel for police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

 

  1. Traffic patterns: questions were raised about whether or not there would be Town vehicles moving north on Millhouse Road.

 

Staff comment: Neither Public Works nor Transportation would have any reason under normal circumstances to route any of their vehicles north on Millhouse Road.  We will make it official policy to forbid such movements.  The only exception we can think of would be some kind of event that would block either Millhouse or Eubanks Roads, thereby requiring movement to the north to access NC 86.

 

  1. Junk Storage: a citizen asked that the Town not allow the storage area to the north to become a site for storing junk.

 

Staff comment: The Town conducts routine auctions of surplus material, at least once per year to rid ourselves of accumulated vehicles and equipment.  We do not now, nor will in the future allow unused material to accumulate.  The Police follow similar procedures with respect to the impound parking lot; the police will return an impounded vehicle to the owner anytime of the day and auctions unclaimed vehicles annually. 

 

  1. Possible use of methane gas from the Orange County Landfill: a speaker asked about the possible use of methane gas from the landfill for various potential energy requirements of the facility.

 

Staff comment: The overall site design of the facility does not exclude the ability to install a pipeline from the Orange County landfill site to convey methane gas to the Town Operations Center.  We understand that the required processing for the landfill methane could occur on the Orange County solid waste property, and we will not preclude entry via a future pipeline.

 

  1. Pedestrian and bicycle improvements on Eubanks Road: a speaker asked if the Town intended to provide bicycle and pedestrian improvements along the entire length of Eubanks Road, especially between Millhouse Road and NC 86.

 

Staff comment: The Town will provide bicycle lanes along Millhouse Road from Eubanks Road to the facility’s entrance.  We will provide connections to the future greenways trail that will provide a connection from Eubanks Road to the site and beyond.  We do not propose to provide additional facilities along Eubanks Road at this time, and there is no budget provision for such facilities.

 

  1. Fence around neighboring property: questions were asked about the design of the proposed fence around the 10.03 acre property that is surrounded by the project and whether or not the owners of the property actually desired to have a fence.

 

Staff comment: The purpose for this proposed fence is to provide immediate supplemental screening between the subject property and the proposed Town Operations Center.  Along the long northern and southern property lines it is not intended to be a security barrier and it can be designed to accommodate wildlife movement.  Gaps left between the bottom of the solid fencing and ground level and possibly openings between sections of the fencing as it is constructed around and in between the area’s significant trees can be included in its detailed design.   In general the fence is proposed to be located approximately 3’ from the property line, to provide maintenance access to its rear side, and to be 6’-high, the maximum height permitted for fencing adjacent to property lines.  To date, we have been unsuccessful in ascertaining the wishes of the owners concerning the fence.  If during future discussions with the owners, Town staff are informed that they do not want sections of the fencing to be constructed, we could eliminate these sections.

 

  1. Sustainability information in buildings: a question was asked in response to the proposed “Sustainability Trail” if similar opportunities for education about sustainable features of the site could be provided in some of the buildings as well as outside areas.

 

Staff comment: We concur with the idea that regular building users and visitors could benefit by the display of information about the high performance features of the buildings, and we will pursue this concept in combination with the design of the trail.

 

  1. Greenway/trail connection to the landfill property: a question was asked about a possible connection to the Orange County Landfill property for the purpose of future trail system connection(s).

 

Staff comment: At this time the Greenways Master Plan does not indicate a connection to the landfill property from the vicinity of the Town Operations Center. However, the Greenways Commission is currently reviewing the plan and intends to make recommendations for changes sometime in late calendar year 2004. We will work with Orange County to find the best possible link of the Town's trail system with the County's proposed woodland trail system. We will look at all possible links including the one located on the Town Operations Center property. We believe that nothing in the current plan would prevent an east-west connection between that portion of the Operations Center property and the landfill property.  We note, though, that there is not now a direct egress point from the Town Operations Center property that abuts the landfill property to public property.  The area in question is bounded by private property and the railroad tracks.

 

  1. Aeration of ponds: a question was asked about providing aeration devices in the ponds on site to mitigate mosquito propagation.

 

Staff comment: We believe the two major ponds on the site will retain enough water to allow aeration devices to function and will include them in the plan.  We understand that keeping water moving is an accepted strategy against mosquitoes, as the mosquito larvae cannot easily survive in turbulent water.

 

  1. Cost of utilities: a question was asked about whether or not OWASA would allow the Town to recoup some of its investment in utility extensions from subsequent development that made use of the same utility lines.

 

Staff comment: We have written to OWASA requesting that they consider amending their current policies to allow this kind of reimbursement.  We will report to the Council when we have a reply.

 

  1. Bike lanes on Millhouse Road: a citizen asked why we are including bike lanes in our design for improvements on Millhouse Road.  The inquiry suggested that the additional pavement would increase impervious surface and thus increase stormwater runoff and would be expensive and not cost-effective.

 

Staff comment: We are including striped bike lanes on Millhouse Road for a number of reasons.  First, NCDOT has suggested them as part of the road design they approved for the road.  Striped lanes are also consistent with the Council’s adopted Policy for the Construction of Bicycle Facilities, adopted November 10, 2003, which states that on collector streets, “either striped lanes or wide outside lanes may be appropriate, depending on site specific circumstances.”  We believe the circumstances on the improved section of Millhouse Road, which will include traffic consisting of a large number of buses, large trucks and construction equipment, justifies a discrete section of road dedicated to bicycle traffic, based on consideration of the safety of the riders.

 

We intend to manage the stormwater in the sub-basin that includes Millhouse Road with the strategies and facilities incorporated into the Town Operations Center project.  These treatment practices will exceed what is required by the Town’s ordinances for the amount of runoff associated with the site, including the bike lanes.  We believe that the bike lanes will thus make a negligible contribution to the quantity and quality of water eventually leaving the site.  The bike lanes will cost about $50,000.

 

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

 

We believe that the project as designed will represent a good balance among the guiding principles of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sensitivity and Fiscal Prudence.  We believe these are the values that the community expects from the Town as developer.  In adhering to these values, we believe that the project meets the requirements of the Land Use Management Ordinance.

 

If the Council approves the Special Use Permit, we would anticipate starting initial clearing and grading in the fall of this year.  Building construction would begin in early 2005.

 

We recommend that the Council adopt Resolution A, approving the Special Use Permit with conditions.  If the Council approves the Special Use Permit, we also recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution which would authorize the Manager to begin work on construction drawings and begin the bidding process.

 

 

A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MANAGER TO PROCEED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS AND A BIDDING PROCESS FOR THE TOWN OPERATIONS CENTER (2004-04-14/R-12)

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council authorizes the Town Manager to proceed with the development of construction documents, to apply for all needed permits, and to seek bids for construction of the Town Operations Center.

 

This the 14th day of April, 2004.